Tiger Woods feels good enough to play at Riviera, his first tournament with a cut and without a cart since the British Open last July. He already is looking ahead to the Masters. And yes, he thinks he can win.
바카라I would not have put myself out here if I didn바카라t think I could beat these guys,바카라 Woods said Tuesday ahead of the Genesis Invitational, which has attracted 19 of the top 20 players in the world.
He also is well aware that he has not won since October 2019, and that at age 47 and with more surgeries than major titles (15), time is running out. He knows that. He바카라s just not quite ready to accept it.
He marvels at how long Tom Brady lasted. He remembers when John Elway retired from the Denver Broncos because his body could no longer recover the way it once did. Golf is not a contact sport, but it has become a young man바카라s game. Only two of the top 10 players in golf are in their 30s. The oldest is Rory McIlroy at 33.
Woods can play. The question is whether he can compete, whether he can win. He remains at 82 career PGA Tour titles, a record he shares with Sam Snead, who was 67 when he made the cut at a PGA Championship.
Part of Woods was annoyed that he was celebrated for making the cut in the Masters last year, his first competition since a February 2021 car crash outside Los Angeles shattered bones in his right leg and ankle.
바카라I바카라m there to get a W, OK? So I don바카라t understand that making the cut is a great thing,바카라 Woods said. 바카라If I entered the event, it바카라s always to get a W. There will come a point in time when my body will not allow me to do that anymore, and it바카라s probably sooner rather than later. But wrapping my ahead around that transition and being the ambassador role and just trying to be out here with the guys, no, that바카라s not in my DNA.바카라
He played that ambassador role last year at the Genesis Invitational as the tournament host. He also is leading the private player meetings geared toward building a new PGA Tour model of elite tournaments as a response to Saudi-funded LIV Golf.
His announcement on Friday that he was playing led to a scramble for media credentials. The back of the press room in the Riviera clubhouse was lined with some two dozen photographers waiting for him to show up for his news conference.
Justin Rose watched in December as Woods played with his son at the PNC Championship, riding in a cart. Woods has been saying he can hit all the shots, that it바카라s walking to them that makes it difficult.
바카라In terms of the important part of can you hit a golf ball, can you get a ball in the hole, all of that seemed to be really in order,바카라 Rose said. 바카라But we know that바카라s definitely not the thing he struggles with, right? It바카라s obviously the physical side of putting together four rounds of golf. (It바카라s) a really good sign to see him in the field and feeling willing and able to get out here.바카라
Woods had planned to play in his Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas the first week of December, but in accelerating his practice he developed plantar fasciitis that kept him from walking. He said he still copes with plantar fasciitis, only it has become manageable. The ankle is what gives him problems.
He prepared for Riviera 바카라 and the Masters, and whatever else can follow 바카라 with a more graduated practice of hitting golf balls, walking the course until he became tired, and then walking a little more until he could get in 18 holes.
What to expect? Not even Tiger Woods knows.
Expectations have run the gamut during his incomparable career. He once went two whole months in 2001 without winning, and the cover of a golf magazine said, 바카라What바카라s wrong with Tiger?바카라 He went on to win his next three starts, including the Masters.
Now it바카라s whether he바카라s kidding himself about winning.
Tiger Woods no longer is motivated by naysayers, a product of age and maturity, with a dose of reality. He knows his last win was the Zozo Championship in Japan in 2019, which was six months after he won the Masters.
Before his back fusion surgery in 2017, when it was a struggle just to walk, Woods had reason to wonder if he would ever play. He thinks he can beat McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler, the new No. 1 in golf. But there is more gratitude about simply playing.
바카라Those back operations were tough,바카라 he said. 바카라That proved to myself more than anything that I could still do it. ... Ultimately, it바카라s within me and whether or not I believe I can do it. It바카라s not the motivating factor of outside.바카라
As for the rest of the year, Woods only knows it will be a limited schedule of the majors and maybe a few more. That바카라s a good forecast. He was at Los Angeles Country Club on Monday riding around in a cart to look at the North course ahead of the U.S. Open.
The end is sooner rather than later, but it바카라s not now.
